Forwarded message from Stuti Khanna <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> Deadline: 31 January 2006
>
> Post-Colonial Victorians?
> A Conversation across Borders
> Linacre College, Oxford, 2 June 2006
>
> CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> The shaping force of Empire on nineteenth-century British and colonial
> cultures, as well as on the developing cultures of post-colonial states,
has
> been the subject of much of the most exciting recent work in both
Victorian
> and Postcolonial studies. The heavy traffic in themes and motifs, and in
> genres, narratives and plots between the metropolis and the colonies
that is
> evident across the nineteenth century, and which persists in residual and
> reactive ways in post-colonial cultures suggests that there are multiple
> points of overlap and interaction, of historical continuity and contrast.
> Despite much shared ground, however, the current constitution of the
academic
> fields of the historicist and British-focused Victorian studies and the
more
> theoretically self-conscious and globally oriented Postcolonial studies
has
> meant that conversations between the two areas have sometimes been
difficult
> or disrupted. In this one-day symposium on metropolitan, colonial and
> post-colonial cultures, we wish to stage a conversation between
Victorian and
> Postcolonial studies at the present time, to consider areas of overlap
and
> indebtedness, as well as points of contest and disavowal. What are the
> points of recognition and misrecognition?
>
> At its most obvious level then, we want to address the question, how
does
> Victorian culture look under the lens of Postcolonial theory? In what
ways
> do critical concepts regarding, for instance, race, hybridity,
marginality,
> cosmopolitanism, etc., add to our understanding of Victorian literature
and
> culture? But we also want to reverse the question and interrogate the
> Victorian colonial legacy in Postcolonial studies: for instance, to what
> extent do the critical vocabulary and the political strategies of
> Postcolonial studies draw on concepts which originate in a
> nineteenth-century colonial context? How far is the analytical work of
> Postcolonial studies framed by nineteenth-century literary and
scientific
> discourses? How useful has the notion of 'writing back' to the Empire
been
> as either a political tactic or an analytical tool?
>
> We are looking for 250 word proposals for 20 minute papers on any topics
> relating to the interrelationships between Victorian and Postcolonial
> Studies. Specific topics might include, but are not restricted to
>
> a.. Repression and resistance within nineteenth-century colonial
discourse
> b.. Post-colonial rewritings of nineteenth-century literary texts
> c.. Body, sexuality and/or health in colonial and post-colonial contexts
> d.. Race and/or class in colonial and post-colonial contexts
> e.. Colonial/post-colonial cities / spaces / maps
> f.. Decolonisation and the Victorian heritage
> g.. Migration / mobility / diaspora / settlement / home
> h.. Media / book circulation / networks / reception
> i.. Colonial and post-colonial visual cultures
> j.. Language/ translation
>
> The event aims to bring together scholars from literary, cultural and
> historical studies, and other disciplines, at different stages of their
> career. We welcome proposals from established academics as well as
graduate
> students working in these fields. The conference programme will leave
ample
> room for discussion and debate.
>
> Please send proposals to [log in to unmask], or
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Deadline for submission: 31 January 2006.
>
> Conference committee:
> Stefano Evangelista, Stuti Khanna, Bianca Jackson, Josephine McDonagh,
Emma
> Reisz
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